Give Me One Reason
by Mymomomo
Summary: Toushiro should know by now that when Ichigo gives him a reason to worry he should not overlook anything. IchixHitsu


**So... First attempt at an IchiHitsu fic been wanting to do something of the sort for a while, but couldn't find the right motivation or plot, so what better way to get started than a little oneshot?**

**It's all thanks to Kuroneko Hikage for suggesting this and providing the prompts... actually it's thanks to her that I got a lot of things done this week :/ **

**Just don't expect too much out of this, I admit it might be 'cute' but it's not my best...**

**Warning: this has not been beta'd so there might be a few grammatical slips... I blame it on my being semi-ESL**

**Prompts (given by Kuroneko Hikage): Pumpkin spice latte, white cat, I-pod**

**Enjoy... I hope.**

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Toushiro sat on a large, cream, plush sofa curled around a rather thick novel. The television was on – muted – but ever so often he looked up to catch glimpses of the local news. He did not usually concern himself with Karakura news but tonight he made an exception. Ichigo was late. That in itself was not odd; Toushiro had long since suspected that his partner had never learnt how to tell time. He was used to Ichigo being late for everything, but he was never late in coming home from work. And that is what had Toushiro worried.

Dinner had been eaten and put away. Ichigo's portion was placed in the oven to keep warm. He has washed up, taken a shower and even cleaned the kitchen. Through all this his phone hadn't even rang once. He had tried calling the red-head several times but his calls had gone straight to voice mail. He wasn't terribly worried; he knew Ichigo could handle himself in most situations. There were no bumps and dips in his reiatsu, so he hadn't been in a fight or accident. He was just taking his merry time in getting home that night. However, he was four hours late and would have some serious explaining to do when he finally arrived.

Toushiro sighed, running a hand through his hair and looked at the wall clock; it was almost eleven. He should start heading to bed since he had to wake up extra early tomorrow to check on his division in the Seireitei. He shut the book with a loud snap, noticing how he had only gotten two pages further. Maybe he was a little more worried than he would have liked to admit.

He stretched as he stood up and headed over to the bathroom. His night-time ritual took a considerably shorter time than normal as Ichigo was not there to distract him. He had pulled back the comforter from their bed and paused to take off his shirt. It was too warm that night for both a sheet and night shirt and because he couldn't fall asleep without the miniscule weight of a sheet on him the shirt would have to go.

He had just climbed into bed and reached over to switch off the bedside lamp when he heard the jingle of keys in the lock and Ichigo's heavy footsteps enter the foyer. He rolled his eyes; trust that idiot to come home just as he was about to go to sleep. He actually debated on whether to just try to fall asleep or get up and confront the red-head on his tardiness and beat him up for making him worry.

The decision was made for him, however, when he heard soft swearing and the clanking of a few pots and pans. What was that idiot doing at this hour? He grumbled as he rolled out of bed, speeding up when he heard glass clanking. He would not have Ichigo break another one of his good china plates. He entered the kitchen to see Ichigo basically half in the fridge muttering unintelligible words.

"Your dinner's in the oven," he drawled, causing the other man to jump and hit his head on the top shelf of the fridge. "You know I would have put it away before you ate."

Ichigo straightened, rubbing the back of his head and turned to grin sheepishly at his boyfriend. "Hey, babe, I thought you would have been sleeping by now."

Toushiro rolled his eyes and went to remove Ichigo's dinner from the oven. "With all the noise you were making? I'd have to be deaf to sleep through that."

"Sorry,"

"Do you want me to warm this up for you? It's gotten kind of cold."

Ichigo glanced at the plate in Toushiro's hands. "Nah, that's alright. Do we have any canned tuna?"

Toushiro raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I know my meatloaf isn't the best around, but you don't even like fish."

"No, I love your meatloaf, you know that-"

"So why do you want tuna? And why were you so late tonight?"

"I ... um got held up at the office."

"For four hours?"

His eyes began roaming the room, the way they did when he was trying to avoid talking about something. Eventually they landed on the counter next to him.

"Look, I brought you coffee, Pumpkin spice latte, you like that right?" he quickly held out a white cardboard cup to Toushiro as a peace offering.

The shorter man narrowed his eyes. "Why the hell would I want coffee at this time of night? It's almost midnight and you know I have to be up by five tomorrow. Why would you even think to get me a latte-"

He was cut off by a soft meow from Ichigo's jacket. It was only then that he noticed how weirdly his boyfriend was standing. He was hunched over with an arm wrapped around his waist under his jacket. Toushiro froze with his mouth agape and eyebrows raised. Ichigo just blushed and coughed loudly as if to drown out the meowing.

"Your jacket just meowed. Why is your jacket meowing, Ichigo?"

"It didn't, what are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Kurosaki."

Ichigo sighed at Toushiro's sharp tone but knew that the battle was already lost. He hung his head and grudgingly pulled out a small, white kitten from inside his jacket. The thing was barely bigger that his palm and wet.

For once in his life Toushiro couldn't find the words to describe what he was thinking. So, he stared open-mouthed at the tiny feline in his boyfriend's palm. Ichigo took the opportunity of Toushiro's momentary dumbfoundedness to plead his case.

"I found him by the side of the road and I couldn't just leave him there."

"We are not keeping this cat."

"What? Why not, he's so cute and where else is he supposed to go?"

"I don't know and nor do I really care."

"Don't be mean, Shiro, come on how can you refuse this face?" Ichigo pulled his mouth into a pout and held the kitten up to his face. It looked around with bright blue eyes, obviously confused to as how it got so close to Ichigo's head and swiped at his nose. Ichigo let out a soft, strangled yelp and held the kitten an arm's length away from him.

"Very easily," Toushiro groaned pinching the bridge of his nose. "That thing could have all kinds of diseases, and now you've brought it into our house, well done."

Ichigo looked down at the kitten who was now trying to chew on his thumb. "He doesn't have any diseases, a few fleas maybe but no diseases. And anyway I'm not going to let all my hard work go to waste. We're keeping him."

"Your hard work? You picked that thing up off the curb."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Yes and no. He's the reason that I was late."

"How did a cat make you four hours late?"

"Well, when I was coming home I thought I got a flat tyre, I rolled over something and it was making a funny noise, so I pulled over. Nothing was wrong but then I heard this little guy meowing. After a few minutes I found him trapped in a storm drain. So I pulled up the grate and rescued him."

"That took you four hours?" Toushiro snarled sceptically.

"... That took me twenty minutes. I waited on the next block over for four hours."

Toushiro resisted the urge to smack him upside the head. "Why? And what happened to your phone?

"Because I knew you'd get mad if I brought him home, so I waited until I thought you were asleep. And my phone died."

Toushiro gritted his teeth. "So, you'd rather me get mad in the morning?

"It's easier to ask for your forgiveness than your permission."

The white-haired man growled. "We're bringing that cat to the animal shelter tomorrow."

"No, we're keeping him."

"Give me one good reason."

"It get's lonely around here when you're in The Soul Society. Do you know how creepy this house is at night? And he reminds me of you."

"Pray do tell how a _cat_ reminds you of me."

"His fur, his eyes... he bit me when I first picked him up."

"I didn't bite you-"

"I have scars to prove it-"

"That hard..."

The white-haired man rubbed his forehead and sighed. "That canned tuna stays in the pantry, middle shelf next to the pasta sauce and pickles. Though, I don't think a cat that young can eat fish just yet."

The smile that broke out on Ichigo's face was almost blinding and the next thing Toushiro knew Ichigo's lips were pressed against his. He found himself leaning into the taller body and wrapping his arms around Ichigo's neck, entwining hi fingers in his hair. Ichigo placed his hands on Toushiro's hips, toying with the hem of his shirt and pulling him even closer. Lips crash against lips and tongues entwined for what seemed like an eternity. They were both lost in each other for a few euphoric moments.

"Thank you, babe," Ichigo mumbled into Toushiro's ear when they broke apart, his voice husky breathy, and soft.

Toushiro rolled his eyes again and wondered where Ichigo had put the cat since he was using both arms to hug him. He was answered by a soft mewl coming from -

"The sink, Ichigo!" He exclaimed pulling out of his boyfriend's arms. "We put things we eat from in there, you moron.

He plucked the cat from the thankfully empty sink and glared at the red-head who had the decency to look slightly ashamed.

"It was the closest place," he muttered. "I didn't think."

Toushiro shook his head but stretched up on his tiptoes to give his boyfriend a quick peck on the cheek. "Go warm some milk, while I go sanitize it before our house becomes a breeding ground for all kinds of exotic diseases. "

"He has a gender you know, stop saying it."

Toushiro paused and inspected the cat. "It's a girl you moron," he said after a moment.

"What?" Ichigo's eyes went wide. "Now that means I have to think of new names!"

_Two weeks later_

"I'm going to kill that cat!" Ichigo snarled stomping into the living room holding up one of his dress shirts. "Where is she?"

Toushiro glanced up from his novel. "Hiding, she made herself scarce as soon as you started yelling. What did she do now?"

He grimaced and help up his shirt. There was a sizeable hole in the sleeve. "This is the third shirt she's ruined so far."

He shrugged. "You just need to train her properly."

"You try training a cat," he grumbled and plopped down next to his boyfriend on the couch. "Is it too late to give her away?"

"Yes."

"Oh, don't tell me you got attached to her. I thought you would hate her after she nearly gouged out your eye."

Toushiro shrugged and fingered the bandage under his right eye. The cat had lashed out when he had tried to sanitise her. The whole event had resulted in a traumatised – but squeaky clean – cat and livid Toushiro. Not only had his eye been swollen almost shut for the rest of the night but he had to explain to Matsumoto the next day how he had been bested by a kitten no bigger than his foot. And not to mention how badly it stung. "Oh please, you've done much worse to me."

Ichigo blushed and buried his head in Toushiro's hair. "I said I was sorry and I thought we agreed we would never mention that again."

Toushiro snorted before placing a chaste kiss against Ichigo's cheek and leaning against his shoulder. He picked up his book again, shifting slightly when Ichigo wrapped an arm around his waist. They stayed like that for a moment until Ichigo pulled back with an annoyed grunt.

"Come to apologise, you little cretin?"

They both looked down to see the fluffy, white kitten nestled between their legs.

Toushiro chuckled and stroked the cat's head. "Hey Ellie, what you got there?"

The cat meowed happily, dropping a well-chewed, dented, and saliva covered I-pod into Ichigo's lap. The red-head's eyes bulged.

"Oh, I am going to kill you!"

The cat leapt from his lap and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"As I remember, you begged me to adopt her." Toushiro chuckled.

"Yeah, 'cause I thought we'd be adopting a cat, not a demon." Ichigo groaned in disgust, picking up his ruined I-pod. "And now I know why you two get along so well."

Toushiro punched him in the arm.

* * *

**Again I managed to pull another awful ending... abrupt; I know, suckish; why yes. Sigh, I'll come up with a good ending one of these days.**

**And well believe it or not, I actually had a bit of fun doing this, and might be doing more in the future :) ****how soon in the future really all depends on if anyone would like to give me prompts... yes that's an invitation. What I'm really saying is send me prompts. I will honestly write about anything... most things... **

**If you're interested PM me or heck just leave a review telling me what you want... **

**Until next time, **

**-Mymomomo**


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